Storytelling is all about the destination.
Most people travel to an airport, sit around waiting, eat weird airport food, get on a plane, and endure a flight whilst watching the small aeroplane movie screens without any affection for the journey. For many it’s a mindless, annoying task that requires no strength of wits and simply wastes time.
Most people only really care about the destination (however, I know an aviation geek who would nerd out at all aspects of the process), the journey is an essential and sometimes partially enjoyable cost of getting to the destination.
TWA understood this – all their posters highlighted the value of the destination – the allure of the exotic holiday in Spain, Mexico, Portugal or Paris. Their posters don’t discuss the journey, the planes, the food or other details. They were all about the destination.
The story and value of the destination and the holiday made the price of money and travel time worth it. TWA understood that passengers have their own retail version of ROI.
If the destination is painted vividly, the price of the journey is justifiable. That’s what storytelling is all about. It’s telling the story of tomorrow, so today’s price becomes seen as worth paying.
Stories and Destinations: The TWA Hotel is worth flying to JFK to experience.
The TWA Hotel is an iconic symbol of indulgent mid-20th-century aviation history and architecture. It’s also the current phase of a classic story.
In the late 1950s, New York International Airport, later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), became a focal point for international air travel. Trans World Airlines was a major airline and wanted to be central to this boom. TWA commissioned Eero Saarinen, a Finnish-American architect known for futuristic designs, to capture the spirit of flight in the architecture of the building.
Construction of the TWA Flight Center started in 1960. Saarinen’s revolutionary design featured a flying bird structure with an equally striking interior and massive open spaces.
The TWA Flight Center opened in 1962, two years after Saarinen died. It was recognised as an architectural masterpiece and symbolised the Jet Age’s glamour and optimism. The terminal was riding high, saw millions of travellers and became synonymous with the golden age of jet travel. But the music changed in the 1980’s.
Changes in the airline industry, including deregulation and the rise of hub-and-spoke networks, began to challenge the terminal’s functionality. Its design struggled to cope with the growing size of aircraft and the passenger volumes that came with it. TWA faced financial difficulties in the 1990s and was acquired by American Airlines. The TWA Flight Centre closed in 2001. But it couldn’t be pulled down. The TWA Flight Center was declared a New York City Landmark in 1994 and later added to the National Register of Historic Places.
TWA Flight Centre Rebirth as TWA Hotel
Plans were finally made, and the TWA Flight Center was reborn in 2019 as the TWA Hotel. The hotel retained and restored many original features, including the Saarinen-designed sunken lounge and the iconic red carpeting. Bravo.
What a fantastic story – along with many sub-stories and a perfect dramatic arc. It’s beyond perfect for aviation geeks and architecture fans. The open-air rooftop swimming pool and cocktail bar allow you to watch planes land and take off with no barriers between you and them – the smell of aviation fuel and a good cocktail is … intoxicating.
